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“Nearshore” outsourcing is the practice of getting services performed by people in neighboring countries. Many companies in the United States, for example, outsource work to Mexico. Geographic proximity means that logistics and communications are easier and less expensive. Read more:

With lower shipping costs and increasingly competitive wages, Mexico is enjoying a manufacturing boom, attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment from firms that are building factories to supply the North American market — a concept known as nearshoring. When General Motors, the largest automaker in the U.S., announced last year it would invest some $540 million to expand its plant in Toluca, Mexico, it joined a growing list of manufacturers seeking more bang for their production buck south of the border. Read more:

Not long ago, Mexican factories couldn’t compete with the “China price,” the ridiculously low cost of production in the Asian nation. But some time this year, with rock-bottom wages now soaring in China, the average cost of factory labor in the two nations will be roughly the same. This is a boon to Mexico, and its industrial parks are swelling. Read more:

The fourth generation Nissan Sentra took a big step forward as production of the sedan is officially underway. Scheduled to hit the market later this fall, the namesake will call the Aguascalientes 1 Mexican assembly plant home and from there, the car will make it to numerous markets. More than $150 million was put into the facility in order to get ready for the Sentra which will represent about half of the plant’s entire production. Read more:

A new Audi plant will be built at San José Chiapa in Mexico. Construction is expected to commence in early 2013 while the plant will be ready for production operations in 2016. This location was selected after Audi Board of Management and Volkswagen Management Group surveyed a series of locations. It was found that this particular site in the state of Puebla, Central Mexico, was most suitable to the company’s requirements and will go a long way in ensuring company growth as per Audi Strategy 2020. Read more:

Audi picks Puebla, Mexico, as the site for a plant to supply more SUVs to the U.S. and other countries. “We are proud that Audi, a leading European premium manufacturer, has chosen our country as a future production base,” Rafael Moreno Valle, governor of the state of Puebla, said.Audi is a unit of German automaker Volkswagen Group, which also sells the Volkswagen brand. Read more:

Grupo Aeromexico and Delta Air Lines announced plans to invest $40 million to build and jointly operate an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, or MRO, center in the central Mexican state of Queretaro. The two airlines said in a joint statement that they will invest equal amounts in the facility, which will be used to service their respective fleets and those of other airlines. The MRO center will be built at the Queretaro International Airport next to that state’s Aerospace Park, Mexico’ largest aerospace manufacturing cluster. Read more:

Mexico is benefiting from ties to “very competitive” U.S. manufacturers as low wages lure producers discouraged by rising labor costs in Asia, Deputy Finance Minister Gerardo Rodriguez said. Mexico is tied to the U.S. by the North American Free Trade Agreement that bolstered cross-border production chains. “Because of these linkages with the Mexican sector, we’re being pulled somewhat by those dynamics,” Rodriguez said. Read more:

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motors Company’s Mexican unit said it planned to invest $130 million in a new plant that will manufacture aluminum auto parts in Tijuana, a border city in the northwestern state of Baja California. The plant is expected to create 300 direct jobs and make up to 900,000 units of three new automotive products for different models sold in the United States, Hyundai said. Read more:

Mexico will boost annual auto output by 1 million vehicles within three years, a 38 percent jump from last year, as foreign manufacturers use the country as an export base, said Carlos Guzman, head of the nation’s investment promotion agency. Investments already announced by carmakers will allow Mexico, the world’s fourth-largest auto exporter, to increase annual production from last year’s 2.6 million units, Guzman, president of ProMexico, said in an interview yesterday at Bloomberg’s Mexico City office. Read more: